Inside the MLS:
Philippe Eullaffroy
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Philippe Eullaffroy, the Director of Montreal Impact Academy, was born in Troyes, France, where as a player he was trained by and spent most of his career with French professional club Troyes, from 1984 to 1991. He was selected to the "team of the century" by the Troyes supporters and set a record after scoring the fastest goal in club history. As a coach has earned a UEFA "A" coaching license and a National "B" license (Canada) and previously coached the Stade de Reims and Troyes professional club academies from 1999 to 2005. Following his move to Quebec, he served as the McGill Redmen's head coach from 2005 to 2008 and was named Coach of the Year three times.
In 2009, in his first season as head coach of the Trois-Rivières Attak, Eullaffroy led the team to the regular season championship and to the first playoff championship in club history. He was then named the Canadian Soccer League Coach of the Year. As head coach of Quebec’s Under-18 team, he led the squad to a Gold Medal during the 2009 Canada Games.
In this interview, Philippe and RedNation discuss the state of the Montreal Impact Academy as the organization prepares to make its debut in Major League Soccer in 2012.
RedNation Online (RNO): With Montreal's move to the MLS, have you seen more interest from young players in Quebec wanting to become part of the Montreal Impact Academy?
Philippe Eullaffroy: Yes, we are seeing more and more interest from everywhere across the province in terms of people inquiring about the procedure by which players can enter our Academy. We were already seeing it to an extent last winter when there was a lot of talk about the possibility of having the Montreal Impact in the MLS. And right now the interest is even more so and we are working to respond to it. For example, we will be holding open tryouts for the Academy in early January and we already have more than three hundred registrations for January 7th. We will likely select only 15 or 20 players from these 300 players. So the buzz is there and we really are seeing more interest in the Academy and the Impact as well.
RNO: Toronto FC had a few of their Academy Graduates become regular players for their MLS team in 2011 and the Vancouver Whitecaps recently announced that 17 year old Residency player Bryce Alderson has signed a professional contract with the senior team. Do you anticipate any of the Impact's Academy players signing professional contracts and moving up to the senior pro level in 2012?
Philippe Eullaffroy: The pro staff have a few young players from the Academy on their radar, so I’m hoping we will have some good news there early next year. And if it is not next year, it will be for the following year. Our Academy is pretty new, as we started less than two years ago. But we do have a number of good prospects in our Academy and hopefully we will have a few of those players at least practicing with the professional squad next year.
RNO: How is your relationship with Impact Head Coach Jesse Marsch and what is his vision for the Academy in terms of how it integrates with the senior professional team?
Philippe Eullaffroy: We have had a number of discussions about how we are going to work together and Jesse’s interest in the Academy is very sincere and he believes it is very important. He wants to have me attending his senior team practices at least once per week. And on the other side, one of his coaching staff members will have to fill the gap between the pro team and the Academy team, meaning that one of his staff will be on the pitch with us once per week and will assist us in certain areas as we develop the young players in the organization. Marsch will also have players from the Academy training with the pro squad if they deserve it and he has a lot of interest in bringing Academy players to the MLS as soon as possible. But we do have to keep in mind that we are a young Academy and we still have to work hard to bring a few Quebecers from the development level up to the MLS level. Overall, Jesse Marsch is very open for us to all work together to bring young Quebecers to the Montreal Impact MLS team.
RNO: You coached the McGill's Men's Soccer Team for five seasons. How did coaching at the collegiate level prepare you for your current role as the Director of the Montreal Impact Academy?
Philippe Eullaffroy: It was a totally different job. Every coaching experience is very important because each one allows you to improve your coaching skills and soccer skills. What was very good about my time at McGill was that I was coaching very talented players at a very competitive level. So I learned a lot regarding that environment. But you are not coaching the same type of players at the youth level, because when you are coaching student athletes it is not the same. You can’t have the same expectations from those players because while they want to play at the highest level possible, the main object for them is their academic studies. At the Academy, the only objective the players have is a professional soccer career, so you can have greater expectations for the players at the Academy level, because they all want to become professional players. That is often not the case at the college level. The way we are talking to the players and putting things in place, it is big difference compared to the college level.
RNO: You previously coached the Stade de Reims and Troyes professional club academies from 1999 to 2005. How does managing an Academy in Canada compare to managing one in France?
Philippe Eullaffroy: The main difference is that Canada and North America don’t yet have a soccer culture. So you have to explain in more detail what you want to see and what you expect and what you are teaching to the players, because they don’t have the same soccer culture right now. In France or in Europe, it’s obvious for most of the players what you are talking about. Here it is not the same thing, so we have to spend a little more time on the basics and then it takes a little bit more time to improve their skills to a very high level and the MLS level for example. We can already see a difference though. For the example the youngest generation that we have at the Academy, the U-12 and U-13 years olds, they are already more well prepared mentally and technically to have success and they will maybe have more of a chance to reach the pro level than the generation that we already have at 18 or 19 years old, because those youngest players already have had the true environment necessary to reach the next level. So it’s not more difficult, but it is another approach in terms of the way that you develop players right now in North America because, again, they haven’t grown up with the soccer culture needed to reach the pro level.
RNO: What is the general philosophy that you and the Montreal Impact have instituted for the Montreal Academy and what are your long and short term goals for the program?
Philippe Eullaffroy: The short term goal is to have a lot of players making the Canadian National Teams at the U-17, U-20, U-23 levels, as well as have one or two players moving from the Academy to having some minutes with the pro team in 2012. Also, we want to have at least have 3-4 players from the Academy practicing on a regular basis with the pro squad.
Long term - which we consider to be within three years - we want to have 3 or 4 players being a part of the MLS roster.
RNO: How important do you think it is it for your Academy players to be getting International experience playing with those national teams that you just mentioned?
Philippe Eullaffroy: It’s very, very important for their improvement and progression, because it provides a lot of experience playing at a higher level than what they could have playing at the CSL level. So it’s very important. However, one thing to note is that when they are preparing for a national team competition they are away in a different environment, so it is good for their experience. But on the other side, they are preparing specifically for competition as opposed to developing their skills and that’s normal, because the national team coaching staff is there to prepare for the competition and to win games.
At the Academy, it is the opposite, where the emphasis is first to develop their skills and then, if they are developing well, we are going to win some games. So it’s a big difference. It’s very good for them, but, for example, last year our players were outside Montreal every month for 10-12 days, which is good in terms of preparing for a competition, but it does take them away from the day to day process of developing their skills. So they earn some experience that is good for their progression, but it is not the same thing as training on a daily basis towards improving their skills. So it is good, but to a point. I think if they are away at a training camp every month preparing for a competition, I don’t think it will be a good thing for them.
RNO: Now that Montreal is officially part of MLS are you going to follow the Toronto FC model further and put a U17 team in the CSL Second Division?
Philippe Eullaffroy: No, we won’t do that, because we would like to enter the U.S. Development Academy League by the fall of 2012. We have already applied to the U.S. Soccer Federation and hopefully we will have a positive answer by April 2012.
RNO: You have quite a varied background as a coach. In 2009, in your first season as head coach of the Trois-Rivières Attak, you led the team to the regular season championship and to the first playoff championship in club history. You were also named the Canadian Soccer League Coach of the Year. And as head coach of Quebec’s Under-18 team, you led that squad to a Gold Medal during the 2009 Canada Games. What do you think are the main variables in terms of being successful in coaching young players?
Philippe Eullaffroy: Well, you have to be patient first and foremost. Because again, those players are not very experienced, but that is because they are young. And that means that if they don’t have a lot of experience, you have to be more tolerant and excuse their mistakes because you know that the mistakes will help them to improve a lot. So you have to be very demanding in once sense, but also patient. And you have to act a bit more as a father than as a team manager in order to give them self confidence and make them feel comfortable to improve.
At the same time, you also have to let them know that if they want to reach the next level, they will have to work harder and better. At the same time, you have to make them feel comfortable and confident in their skills. It’s a bit tricky. You can’t ask them to be efficient on the pitch and to be at their best on the pitch and to win all their games right now, because they have to know that they have time to develop their skills. At the same time, they also have to know that to be good you do have to win some games and to show to the coaches, scouts and pro staff that you deserve a chance at the pro level.
You have to manage all of these aspects of the coaching and it is not easy. But one thing that is very good is that all of the kids that are with us at the Academy level are very determined to succeed, so it is very motivating for a coaching staff to work at the that level and with young players, especially when the main goal of those young players is to reach the pro level.
RNO: Obviously, the Canada U-17 squad that recently played in the U-17 World Cup is a team that has a number of very exciting young players. One player who stood out for me is Maxime Crepeau. What do you think about his potential as both a professional and an International player?
Philippe Eullaffroy: He has the profile of the modern professional soccer player. He is very strong physically, but also mentally. He is a very hard worker and his experience during the qualification for the U-17 World Cup and during the World Cup – even if he just played in one game because he got injured after the first game – he learned a lot playing at a very high level playing against teams like Costa Rica, Jamaica, Korea, etc. and he improved a lot.
Here at the Academy, the first gift is not technical skill or physical skills, it is mental skill. And if you are strong in your head, you are going to have a better chance to succeed at the next level. And Max Crepeau has that. He is very tough mentally. For example, he worked very hard to get back on the pitch after his injury at the World Cup. He’s not at the top yet but he is one of our major prospects for the future and we are looking for him to have a future with the Montreal Impact.
RNO: You have significant connections in France from your previous
experiences there as a player and a coach. Do you expect to leverage those connections for the benefit of the Montreal Impact? If so, in what ways?
Philippe Eullaffroy: I’m not looking to bring players to the senior team because Nick De Santis and his staff also have a lot of connections in Europe. But sometimes since I know a lot of the players playing in France right now and, when the team is maybe looking at one of these players, I maybe have had firsthand information regarding their attitude, the way they are playing and if they have ever had any relationship problems with their coaching staff. So I can help the pro staff and the scouts especially on those aspects if there is a French player on our radar. But that would be it. The Impact team and staff is already well organized and has a lot of connections in Europe and France.
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